Wind Farms
Due to rising energy prices and the resultant search for alternatives, there are now thousands of wind farms in many countries around the world. There is still a lot of controversy surrounding the pros and cons of wind power and its local impact. Clear Environmental Consultants specializes in ecological, flood risk and detailed drainage design services in relation to wind farm developments.
Clear has the required experience to undertake collision impact assessment and migratory bird surveys in addition to the full range of terrestrial based ecology surveys applied on most development sites.
European legislation requires Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs) of national offshore wind farm (OWF) programmes and Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) for individual projects likely to affect birds.
SEAs require extensive mapping of waterfowl frequency and densities to identify areas of importance and sensitivity.
EIAs for individual OWFs identify bird species present; as well as assess the hazards presented to birds in terms of avoidance behaviour, habitat change and collision risk. Such measures, however, are not helpful in assessing cumulative impacts.
Clear utilize aerial survey, physical habitat loss, modification, or gain and effective habitat loss through avoidance behaviour to monitor bird densities as a measure of habitat availability.
